Report: N.O. Murders Are Down, But Number Of Shooting Survivors Is Up

2 years ago

There were fewer people shot to death in New Orleans during the first half of this year compared to the same time period last year, but the number of shooting victims who survived is up this year compared to last year.

That's one of the findings of a Fox 8 report breaking down the number of fatal and non-fatal shootings.

According to the report, 74 murders were recorded in New Orleans during the first 6 months of 2014, and during the same time period, there were 174 shooting incidents in which 219 victims survived. That's five more victims than the same time period last year. And 95% of the survivors are African-American and most are males.

Tulane Criminologist Peter Scharf told WRNO's Denny Schaffer Friday he believes more shooting victims are surviving because of advances in medical treatment and care. But the costs to society go up. As more people survive, the higher the medical costs.

"That incident in the Quarter that I was quoted on might have been a $30 million incident when you look at the medical costs and you look at the loss of tourism dollars," Scharf said.

The downward trend in the number of murders in New Orleans is surprising to Scharf.

"With all the adverse trends, with the decline, the exodus of police officers, it's actually amazing we're as low as we are now," Scharf said.